The Liberal Democrat, who lost both breasts to the disease, has been told that a small lump in her chest has cancerous cells. She will undergo surgery to remove it at Christie Hospital on Monday.

The mother-of-three was given the news that her cancer had returned this week - six years after her double mastectomy in 1997.

Mrs Calton, 55, today spoke exclusively to the M.E.N. about her experience, and to send a message of hope to other women.

"One word I don't use is `suffer'," she said. "I have had six good years, and I hope to have many more. I feel very fit, I had a medical last month and everything was fine. I will carry on as normally as I can.

Emotions

"My intention is to be back at work later next week after taking two or three days off.

"Some women, getting this news for the first time, feel crushed and go through a terrible rollercoaster of emotions. It has not been that bad for me, but I thought it would be silly to try to keep this to myself."

The MP is a high-profile campaigner for breast cancer charities.

She has run the London Marathon four times, raising money for Christie Hospital, where her breast cancer was treated, the cancer charity McMillan Nurses, and for other good causes.

In 2002 she revealed how she has been sent bras through the post in a five-year hate campaign against her and husband Clive.

In a powerful message to others diagnosed with cancer, Mrs Calton, who has been an MP since June 2001, said: "The treatment is out there and is improving all the time.

Screening

"Much larger numbers of women are recovering and living happily ever after.

"Living means eventually dying, but I have no intention of doing it yet, I am perfectly fit and healthy.

"We have to start regarding cancer as something, while not pleasant, as curable, or liveable with in a lot of circumstances."

Mrs Calton discovered the lump herself and was referred to Withington Hospital where she has been for regular screening for the past six years. Tests on the lump revealed cancerous cells.

She received the news in the same room at Withington's Nightingale Centre where she was given the first diagnosis in 1997.

"I felt annoyed and angry - the same as the first time," she said.

Mrs Calton is a supporter of the Genesis Appeal, which raising £10m to build Europe's first purpose- built breast cancer prevention centre at Wythenshawe Hospital.